New Delhi, May 2 (IANS) Nearly 1.6 crore Bangladeshi citizens faced high levels of acute food insecurity in 2025, placing the country among the world’s top 10 worst‑affected nations, a new report has said, adding that conditions are unlikely to improve in 2026.

The report from Daily Star cited Global Report on Food Crises by UN agencies as saying that those 10 worst-affected countries are unlikely to improve in 2026 due to conflicts, climate shocks, economic instability and supply‑chain disruptions linked to the Middle East crisis.

These 10 countries accounted for roughly two‑thirds of the 26.6 crore people worldwide who experienced acute food insecurity last year.

Afghanistan, Myanmar and Pakistan, Bangladesh, Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen are part of the list.

“Half of the world’s poorest people live in five countries, three of which — Bangladesh, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria — are in protracted food crises,” it said, adding that chronic economic weakness continues to erode resilience at both household and national levels.

Conflicts remained the primary driver pushing half of all people into severe hunger. UN Secretary-General António Guterres called for scaled-up investment in aid and an end to the conflicts driving the crisis.

Bangladesh however, saw some progress in 2025 as the number of people facing acute food insecurity fell by 32 percent in 2025 from the previous year.

The report also highlighted worsening conditions among forcibly displaced Myanmar nationals in two districts of Bangladesh, amid a fresh influx of Rohingya refugees, flooding and cuts to humanitarian assistance.

Over 39 million people in 32 countries faced emergency levels of food insecurity, while the number experiencing catastrophic hunger has surged ninefold since 2016.

Around 35.5 million children were acutely malnourished in 2025, including nearly 10 million suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Acute food insecurity means one or more dimensions of food security, such as availability, access, utilisation and stability, are disrupted to a livelihood threatening extent.

—IANS

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